Can’t really think of a pithy comparison…probably because there is nothing new about oatmeal.  Plain old bland oatmeal:

I read on the interwebs recently that eating one serving of oatmeal a day will help reduce your cholesterol.  My cholesterol isn’t over the recommended limits, but it hovers on the high side.  I’ve heard about Cheerios benefits:

But.  It requires a pretty big serving a day to reduce cholesterol and frankly, I can’t eat Cheerios without a ton of sugar on them, so it is, for me, very calorie dense.

I began a quest to see if I could find a recipe to make oatmeal palatable.

I’ve tried the non-cook oatmeal.  The idea is you soak rolled oatmeal, over-night in a liquid of your choice, milk, almond milk, soy milk, juice and/or yogurt and/or fruit and mix it together in the morning and you’d have a great, easy breakfast.  Moi?  Not so much.  I didn’t like the consistency.  It was still very sticky and gooey.  Not at all pleasant.

I tried mixing it with Advocare Meal Replacement Shakes I had left over from when I was running.  I think I actually liked that the best.  But alas, those Advocare Shakes are a little expensive.  So, when I finished what I had, I didn’t buy more.

I found this recipe for To-Go Baked Oatmeal on the Wholesome Dish I might try.  Sort of a muffin made out of oats instead of flower.  It looks like you’d have to eat three of these muffins in order to get a full 1/2 cup serving of oatmeal, so that too might be a little calorie dense.

What have I been doing so far?  Making smoothie sort of things.  Yogurt, almond milk, 1/2 cup of old fashioned oats.  Sometimes I add fruit or spinach or whatever I have around the house.  I’ve been using almond milk because it is much lower in calories than 2% milk.  I use Greek yogurt because it has more protein and fewer calories than regular yogurt.

I’ve experimented with the best way to manage this.  I have recently begun running the oats through the blender or the individual smoothie maker before mixing the yogurt and the liquid.  This seems to grind the oats to an almost flour consistency.  It makes the drink (a little) less gritty tasting.  This is especially convenient if I need to take it with me.  I can mix the yogurt and almond milk in a container, stick it in my lunch bag with an ice pack and put the oatmeal into a small container and mix them when I’m ready to drink it.  I wouldn’t recommend mixing them beforehand because I think the oatmeal would absorb the liquid and turn into that gooey consistency I don’t like.

I guess we’ll see how this goes.  I really don’t like oatmeal, but I do know it’s good for me:  Fiber!  Cholesterol reducing!  Making me feel full!

I guess next time I give blood, we’ll see if it really helps lower cholesterol.